Although the kinds of tablets ordinarily prescribed in hospitals and pharmacies are several thousands, most frequently used are limited to less than about 800. Therefore most hospitals conventionally uses a combination of several tablet packing apparatuses which can each deal with about 250 kinds of tablets. Such apparatuses may be controlled by a personal computer, say, and may automatically deliver prescribed tablets packed. Prior art tablet packing apparatuses, for example the one disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Sho-58-46962, have an upper tablet-storage portion and a lower funnel type hopper portion, a shutter, and a packing machine in one casing. Said tablet storing portion contains a multiplicity of vertical parallelpiped tablet cases stacked at several levels, from which required (kinds and number of) tablets are extracted or discharged upon an extraction signal given to the control unit of the apparatus. The tablets are introduced into a lead passage through the hopper and transferred to a packing machine through the shutter. The packing machine comprises a roll of two-fold packing sheet which may be easily thermally sealed, tension rollers, a longitudinal heat seal mechanism for making a small pack for the tablets by thermally sealing the sheets at lower and upper ends thereof, a transverse heat seal roller for sealing the upper opening of the pack after the pack is charged with the tablets, and a sheet feeding roller. The sheet feeding roller is driven intermittently to transfer the sheets. When the roller is temporarily stopped the longitudinal heat seal mechanism makes a small pack into which the tablets are discharged from the open shutter and the transverse heat seal mechanism seals the pack completely.
However, such a tablet storing portion as mentioned above has multi-layered stacks of tablet cases extending upwardly, the height of the tablet packing apparatus extends too high. As a consequence, a person of small height has great difficulty in replenishing the tablets. Furthermore, on account of the improper height, those tablets in high tablet cases are subject to strong impact and often get crushed as they fall into the hopper through the lead passage. Still further, empty tablet cases cannot be removed from their positions for replenishment during the packing operation, since, if they are removed leaving an empty space, tablets falling from other tablet cases might pop out of the space.